“I feel like all we ever do is talk. Let’s do something else like…like parachuting.”
I ignored what he said. “I’ve decided to keep my word to Maddox. We aren’t going to start this corporation again. He gave me an ultimatum, your life or the business. I made my decision, and I stick by it. It sucks. It sucks that it happened, it sucks that he humiliated us…but we lost. It’s time to walk away.”
Damien dropped his hands from the back of his neck, his face slowly slackening as the horrible news hit him in the chest. He began to lean forward, his entire body indicating his opposition to what I’d just said. “Fuck no. It’s never time to walk away. I’m not lying down like some kind of pussy. We’ve been working on this for a decade. Maybe he won that battle, but we’ll win the war.”
“Damien. No.”
“Just because you say no doesn’t mean no. Half of that business is mine. You can drop out of the race, but that doesn’t mean I have to.” He rose to his feet and slowly approached my desk. His hands slid into his pockets, and he looked at me with sheer disappointment. “Where the hell is this coming from?”
“It’s not coming from anywhere. It’s the right thing to do.”
“There’s no such thing as the right thing. There’re only winners and losers. And, asshole, I’m not going to be a loser.” He rested his palm on my desk, his hand slowly balling into a fist.
“I have too much to lose, Damien.” I rose to my feet to meet his gaze. We were both over six feet, both powerful and strong. If our fists flew at each other’s faces, it would be an even match. “I don’t want to lose this business any more than you, but I have a wife to think about. If Maddox comes after her, it’ll kill me. And if he just wants me, she’ll lose me. Either way, she loses everything. I’m sorry, Damien. But that decision is final.”
He cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows furrowed like that decision was questionable. “And what about me?”
The anger rushed in my veins, the memory of that night when I’d told Damien to listen to me and he refused. “We’re in this goddamn mess because of you. Let’s not forget that. If you would have just listened to me, none of this would have happened. So no, asshole, you don’t get a say in this.”
His rage slowly faded away, guilt entering his gaze. He’d gone after Maddox when I told him not to, and I’d paid for his mistake with our business. He couldn’t argue with that.
“Alright?”
After a deep breath, he spoke. “Fine.” He returned his hand to his pocket and stepped away from my desk. He started to pace in my office, examining my bookshelves and the art on the walls. “Well, we’ve got a problem.”
Fuck. What did he do?
“While you were gone, I continued production. There’s a bit of crystal on the streets.” He stopped pacing and faced me once more.
I could feel the heartbeat in my temples, like I was fighting the worst migraine of my life. My body immediately went into fight-or-flight mode, but all I wanted to do was fight. I’d turned my back for one second, and Damien fucked everything up. He’d always been the irrational one between the two of us, the impulsive one. I suspected that would ruin me eventually. “You did what?”
“Look, I had already started right after you left. That crystal is in the hands of our distributors now.”
“But I told you to wait.”
“And I did wait, but I can’t stop the distributors from selling our product. I kept production going because I didn’t see the harm in that. I mean, how is Maddox gonna know if we’re producing anything?”
Both of my hands planted against the sides of my face, and my fingers dug into my skull. “Because he knows shit, asshole. If he figures this out, he’s gonna come at us hard. We aren’t the least bit prepared.”
“Chill. He’s not gonna find out. I’ll make some calls and get our shit off the street.”
“It might be too late.”
“But it might not be.” He returned to my desk. “Let’s worry when there’s actually something to worry about. There’re only a few kilos on the street. I’m sure he’ll assume it’s some rogue dealers since we’re out of the picture. I’ll make sure production is halted, and this will all go away.”
“It better go away, Damien. Because this is over…for good.”
He looked at the ground. “I’m happy you found Sofia. I really am. But if she weren’t around, you wouldn’t be scared of anything. You would be the king of the underworld, the man who would do anything to stay on top. Now you’ve just given up.”